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Money

We learn from a young age that money is a large part of life. How often were you told as a child when you wanted something at the shops that “money does’t grow on trees”?.

Before Money

Obviously money as we know it hasn’t been around forever. But there has always been a need to exchange goods. Bartering and trade used to be the way of the world. But bartering had it’s own problems. If you were wanting to swap pigs for wheat then both had to be available at the same time and that may only be a brief period.

Commodoties such as gold or even pepper (which was a very sought after item) was a better way to trade. You could exchange your pig at the right time for gold and then go and buy your wheat when it was harvested with the gold that you had.

Spices, rare shells, whale’s teeth and often cattle were used as commodity money. Pepper especially has long been used to trade with. Both black and white pepper have been used for several hundred years. In the middle ages there was a French saying “As dear as pepper” and in England rent could even be paid in pounds of pepper.

Tobacco and alcohol have also long be used to trade. Tobacco is traded in prisons and during the war it was also traded when cigarettes became used unofficially in Europe.

Learning about Money

Budgeting, bank accounts, credit cards and debt are something we all come to know.

We probably first start learning about money when we are given an allowance or pocket money from our parents. We’re taught that the dollar we earned doing the dishes will buy us a handful of sweets or chocolates. We learn that if we want something more than a handful of them then we need to save that dollar with our next dollar and then we can buy two handfuls. Save for a few weeks and we might be able to afford a toy at the shop.

As we grow up our tastes get more expensive. No longer will a small packet of sweets quell our need to spend. As we grow up we earn more money and we spend more money. But there are always lessons to be learned along the way. We learn that if we want something that is worth a lot of money then we need to save for it. We learn that if we build up too much debt then we fret until it’s paid. Some of us learn that a credit card is just not something we should have unless we can pay it off promptly and use discipline when deciding to use it.

Many people juggle their money well. They don’t spend more than they earn and they don’t run up lots of hire purchases and spread payments. when they can’t make the repayments. Some people are better at it than others – that’s a fact.

Money in The Tribe

Money took on no value when the virus had spread its havoc. Other items took on more value – such as batteries, canned food, and clean water. Money is no good unless everyone is using it. So items of more value are used to trade with.

Traders gather in town and barter over their trades. Children from the outlying countryside bring in their produce and trade it for things that they can only get in the city. And kids from the city trade their goods for fresh produce from the country kids.

KC was always into trading as well. In Tribe 3 he found that everyone wanted a pair of Zoot’s goggles so he made a few replica’s to sell. He was able to buy things he wanted – but then he got found out. He nearly always got found out. KC was always into scams and trading of items was his specialty.

In Tribe 4 Paradise became the new fad. Paradise games were in hot demand and Lex decided that because they were worth so much he should stick his finger in all the pies. Lex started copying games and selling them to kids.

In Tribe 3 Luke and Lex decided that introducing money again to the city might make things a little fairer when it came to trading. It didn’t catch on and so the money was never of any value.